


Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right

by ambiguously



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Games, Gen, Vignettes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-06
Updated: 2019-07-06
Packaged: 2020-06-09 18:39:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19481722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ambiguously/pseuds/ambiguously
Summary: Over the years, Nebula and Morgan teach each other how to play.





	Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thedevilchicken](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thedevilchicken/gifts).



The first game Nebula taught her didn't have a name.

"When I was a child, I played this on my homeworld." Morgan had grown used to the way Nebula spoke, just like she was used to how the rest of her ramshackle extended family acted. ("Ramshackle" was a spelling word; Morgan got it wrong on the test and now used it in every conversation out of spite.) Nebula didn't show excitement or sadness the way some people did, and her voice echoed when she talked. Uncle Bruce was green. Uncle Rhodey had metal implants to help him walk. Everybody was different, and Mom always said that was part of life.

Without visible excitement, Nebula helped Morgan gather pebbles from the ground outside the cabin, grouping them by color and size and shape. Then they sat together on the ground as she drew the board into the dirt with one metal finger. "I will go first."

She showed Morgan how to lay out the stones, when she could skip one of Nebula's to capture it, when she had to backtrack all the way to the start, and how to count up at the end to figure out who'd won. The rules were silly, and Morgan forgot half of them. She expected Nebula to get angry with her, but she kept playing, reminding Morgan how to move her pebbles.

"Did you play this with your friends?"

Nebula paused, a handful of pebbles in one hand. "Yes. They are all dead now."

Morgan thought about that. "Let's play again when you come back to visit."

"I would like that."

* * *

Morgan was bored by the video games in her collection almost before the plastic smell had faded from the cartridges and discs. Writing her own games was more fun. Before she was eleven, she'd designed her own game system to have something powerful enough to play what she wanted.

"What do you call this?" Nebula asked her, as Morgan shoved a controller into her hands.

"I don't know yet. It's a combo first-person shooter exploration game. Friday helped write the story." Morgan booted it up, showing Nebula how to activate the weapons controls.

"I can shoot people when I want to," she said, irritated.

"Yeah, yeah, but this time you have to figure out who not to shoot. Like that character. Don't shoot him." She pointed to a digital figure on the holographic projector.

"Why not? He is in my way."

"He's got information we need. You have to interrogate him. The blue button will pull up the menu."

Nebula let out an exasperated sigh. "It would be easier to shoot."

"This is more fun."

* * *

"Come with me."

Morgan didn't even look up. "Did Mom send you?"

That caught Nebula off-guard. Morgan risked a look. Her friend's eyes glittered dangerously. "No."

"She's mad because I don't want to go to grad school." Morgan sat back in her chair. "You can tell her I'm eighteen. I'm an adult. I can make my own decisions." Besides, she wasn't going to learn anything she didn't already know about coding. The new OS she'd designed was in beta tests now. By next year, everyone would be using the latest Stark system to boot their computers. Stark Office Lite was in development for launch six months after. And both were perfect for running her latest game releases.

"Your mother didn't send me. Come with me." She edged closer. Morgan took a longer look. Impatience was written all over Nebula's face, even if her voice didn't show it.

"What's going on?" Her heart skipped with excitement. Was she being called to join the Avengers, finally? It was about time. Mom didn't let her wear any of the iron suits, but obviously, the summons had come at last and Morgan was ready to answer the call.

Taking only her phone, the special one that could bounce off planets sectors away, Morgan followed Nebula to the top of the building where she'd parked her ship. "Is Rocket with you? He borrowed my contact lenses and never gave them back."

"Get in."

To anyone else, Nebula came across as rude. To Morgan, she was a breath of air in a stuffy room, not concerned with what other people thought. She had a sleek ride these days, too: slim and dangerous like a racecar. Morgan loved poking inside it.

They blasted off, but not in the direction of the current Avengers headquarters. "Is this a mission?"

"No." Nebula turned on the sound system. Some old music started to blare, drowning out further questions. Morgan sat back and enjoyed the ride.

They reached what she could only assume was their destination by the end of the bagpipe solo on the B side. Stars glittered around them, but none were close, and they didn't seem to be in orbit of any planets.

"Are we meeting someone?"

"No. We are waiting."

"Okay." There was something to be said for the immense, immeasurable beauty of interstellar space, but Morgan wasn't the person to say it. She was bored. "How long are we waiting?"

"You'll see. Stop complaining."

"I'm not complaining. I love dropping everything to fly into deep space with my favorite weird blue aunt to look at nothing."

Nebula turned, and for a moment, Morgan expected her to lose her temper, which could be a problem in close quarters with only a thin frame between them and vacuum. Instead, Morgan was surprised, and pleased, to see the barest smile quirk on Nebula's lips. Maybe she'd missed the sarcasm, and thought Morgan was serious.

"I too enjoy flying trillions of miles out of my way to pick up a human who thinks she is more clever than she is."

Nope. Hadn't missed it.

The sky bloomed into light around them. Morgan felt her own eyes bulge out as she watched: crimson reds cascaded into oranges, through yellow and green, and burst into the most intense blue-purple she'd ever seen in her life. Thoughts raced through her mind, not the least of which were those wondering if she was being hit with a UV blast that would scorch her even through the cockpit cover. She was also aware that there were more colors coruscating in the corona of the blast, colors she didn't have words for and could barely perceive.

The colors twisted and banded, and suddenly, there was a hole. The ship flung itself forward. Nebula had hit all her engines on full.

"What are you doing?"

"Playing." They dodged a tail of the color wind, which crackled and sizzled around them, aiming for the hole in the center. They were enfolded by light in cascading shades Morgan couldn't hope to replicate with computer graphics, twisting and jumping between them until with a last dive, they blew through the hole, dragging light behind them.

"That's amazing," she said, when she could breathe. "What's the phenomenon called?"

"Ghost lights. Sometimes in the wake of a dead star, particles will collect and form a miniature gas cloud that ignites. You must be careful. If the burning tendrils hit the ship, we will explode."

"We flew through a star?"

"No. We flew through the ghost of a star."

Morgan thought about it. "Can I have a turn?"

* * *

Nebula didn't age. Not like Mom, who spent time every other week having her hair tinted to keep back the gray, not like Uncle Rhodey who sported a new wrinkle every time he smiled. Carol didn't age, and Thor didn't age, and Nebula didn't, either, which had always given Morgan the impression that space kept you young forever.

They looked the same age now. It was weird.

"You're going to love this," Morgan promised, taking her hand and leading her to the game room. Her Framework VR was cool, once she'd worked out the last of the bugs from the original design. Her gaming system was in every household, part toy, part home assistant. She did design simulators for the military, but that was good business, Mom said. Peace through proof of concept.

She led Nebula to a table.

"We have already played Ping-Pong," Nebula said. "You said I couldn't beat my enemy with my paddle."

"You were just mad you lost. This is better." They sat down opposite one another. "It's a truth game."

She slapped a card against her own forehead, and showed Nebula how to slap one against hers. "Now I think of something, and it shows up on your card, and you think of something that shows up on mine. Then we have to give each other clues. You can ask yes or no questions."

"I have traveled across the galaxy," Nebula said. "I can think of things you have never seen."

"Then you better describe them well."

On Nebula's card, Morgan saw a picture of their friend Carol. "Mine's a person."

"As is mine."

"Ask me questions."

"Is yours a human?"

"Um. They were. I don't know the answer to that question now. My turn. Is yours a human?"

"Yes." That narrowed it down a lot. "Is yours an Avenger?"

Nebula was going to win. "Yes. Is yours?"

"No."

"Give me one word to describe yours," Morgan said.

"A fulcrum."

Huh. "Okay. My one work is: powerful." That shouldn't narrow it down much.

"Yours is Captain Marvel," Nebula said, and placed the card down. Morgan shrugged and took down her own card, placing it on the table. She saw her own face, only much younger.

"You were thinking of me? I'm not a fulcrum."

"When your father made the choice to go back in time to fix what my father did, you were the balance. He weighed the untold trillions of lives that had been lost against the cost of your life, and he chose you. You were the most important person in the universe."

Morgan tried not to think about that. She knew the history of things as they were now, the lost five years, everything. She knew Mom looked at her sometimes, and wondered how everything would have changed if the choice had been to unwind that time. She knew Mom had lost friends during those years, had lost Dad because of it. Nebula must have lost people too. Mom loved her, but she knew Mom asked herself all the time, what if?

"Does that bother you?"

"No. I was thinking that I was glad. You are my friend."

Morgan smiled at her. "Back atcha." She took the cards. "Boring game anyway. Here, I thought you might like this one better." She dug into the box of physical games: card decks and dice, boards and player pieces. She pulled out a cloth bag, and handed it to Nebula. "Open it."

She tugged the drawstring open, and emptied the bag. Pebbles spilled out onto the table, different colors and shapes and sizes. Morgan began separating them. Nebula watched her, then started to help.

"Remind me," Morgan said. "Which ones can jump?"

"These," said Nebula, moving her pieces and capturing one of Morgan's stones.

Later, they called out for pizza.


End file.
